Madsion Was Wise: Lessons From Federalist No. 62

By: Dan McLaughlin (Diary)  |  February 13th at 07:06 PM  | 

I wrote at some length earlier this week on the crucial role of the legislative filibuster in preventing transitory legislative majorities from saddling the nation with permanent legislation of great complexity. As with so many questions of great significance, the Founding Fathers had wise and useful foresight to offer on the dangers of frequent and complex changes in federal law. Let’s go to the words | Read More »

The Legislative Filibuster: Democracy’s Sobriety Checkpoint

By: Dan McLaughlin (Diary)  |  February 9th at 01:05 PM  | 

In recent weeks we have been deluged by hand-wringing columns from “progressive” pundits bemoaning the filibuster rules in the Senate – which allow a determined and unified minority to block legislation that has fewer than 60 votes – and essentially declaring the filibuster to be proof that American democracy doesn’t work and should change the way it does business. (See Brian Darling’s discussion of one | Read More »